UnWandered Word: Amos

The book of Amos is another minor prophet (called minor because their writings were much shorter than the more verbose "major" prophets). The book was often quoted by Martin Luther King, including his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The book begins with detailed and scathing judgment from the Lord against Israel. Amos 4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.” Amos 6: 12 has the Lord's assessment of  Israel’s sins: “But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.” One of the more famous lines from Amos tells of a king who was annoyed with Amos' prophecies of doom. The leader told Amos to “go south and eat bread,' meaning. "They will like your preaching, Amos, and they’ll pay you for speaking." Amos 8:11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Then, as the book concludes, there is an offer of forgiveness. Amos 9:11-15 shows the repentance and restoration of Israel. "I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.